I certainly enjoy your site and it's been a help to us. Build has been going great. Lovin' every minute of it. Jason S., Wheaton, IL

We have broken ground!

Posted to Crystal-Falls-home by jamie in cedar park, TX on 3/3/2008 9:57:18 PM

We are finally getting started!  And we are really getting an education in the building process.  Permits are in place, the only hiccup there is that we have to install a sprinkler/fire protection system, and that is going to cost more than I would like!

Our lot slopes a little, so we have decided to dig down just a little for one corner of the foundation and build up a little on the other corner.  It was reccomended to us to hire some sort of lab company to test the compaction of the ground at different stages of the grading.  We went ahead and did that, better safe than sorry.  We hope the grader will finish by thursday or friday.  The water line needs to be hooked up and inspected before he can finish.  I am posting a few pictures of the lot.

Photos

Before the lot was cleared...	Lots of dirt, and more coming...	this will make a pretty view off our upstairs balcony

Good news!

Posted to Crystal-Falls-home by jamie in cedar park, TX on 1/29/2008 3:10:22 PM

We have good news!  We are set to close on our construction loan on Thursday, 1/31.  We also have the surveyor staking the corners of our foundation on thurday and the grader will get to work shortly after that.  Hopefully we will get through the permit dept with no issues.  I have been told that takes about 10 days.  We would have liked to have already gotten our permits, but we had to wait for the $$$$.  I will update soon.

Dec update

Posted to Crystal-Falls-home by jamie in cedar park, TX on 12/14/2007 8:52:12 AM

     Just a quick update on our progress:  While the architects took their sweet time on our plans, the mortgage industry took a nose dive and we have been having trouble securing our construction loan because they "tightened" up on the criteria.  The good news is that we are getting close.  Once the one year anniversary of our land purchase passes (jan. 4th), we will be able to apply the equity in our the land (40k) to our down payment and we will have equal to 20% down and then we will have several programs to choose from.  More good news is that a company that my husband has a long relationship with due to his insurance business is going to do our roof with some fancy 50 yr shingles for cost. 

     I will post more when there is something good to post!

Another month gone by...

Posted to Crystal-Falls-home by jamie in cedar park, TX on 10/23/2007

Well... not a whole lot of progress report.  The architect has finally completed the plans and we have an engineer working on the foundation plans.  We are working on our loan as well, it should close in another few weeks. 

   I just asked my husband for an update on the loan process and he told me the loan processor needs a contract between us and our contractor.  (my husbands stepfather.)  We could have our lawyer write one up for us, but that will just cost more money.  I also found one on a site called urgentbusinessforms.com that costs $15.95.  Has anyone seen a copy of one for free anywhere?

I have visited a couple of cabinet retailers and am shocked at the price of cabinets.  (kitchen craft and kraftmaid)  We do have an acquaintance that recently had their kitchen redone and cabinets made by a custom cabinet maker that they said were half of the cost of cabinets from Home depot.  I want to meet w/ that cabinet maker and see how they compare. 

HOA approval

Posted to Crystal-Falls-home by jamie in cedar park, TX on 9/24/2007 8:04:53 PM

We haven't made too much progress in the last couple of weeks.   The HOA had questioned how the driveways and retaining walls were going to look in front, so we had to get a landscape designer to draw up a plan to submit, but we have gotten the approval.from them. We are still waiting on the architects and hope to have the plans complete in 2 to 3 more weeks and maybe another 2 more weeks to close our loan. 

Anonymous 9/26/2007

Hi Jamie, I am in TX as well and although we are only in the beginning planning phases I will definitely be watching your posts.  If you don't mind sharing the following that would be great. What is your construction budget? Is your loan for the lot and construction? What square footage are you building? Is your floor plan considered complex by the framers? We are looking at different plans but have no idea right now what will fit our budget. Thanks a lot!  And keep on posting.

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Floor Plans and front elevation

Posted to Crystal-Falls-home by jamie in cedar park, TX on 9/6/2007 10:26:21 AM

Floor Plans and front elevation

Photos

Mary Beth in Dublin, OH 37 forum posts and 3 journal entries and 58 interview answers Send Private Message 9/8/2007

This house is HUGE!!! How many sq feet is this? I thought ours was big as we have about 6500 finished above ground sq footage. We have 6 bedrooms which takes up a lot of our space. Do you have a live in relative or nanny? It looks like you have an apartment attached because of the second kitchen. Good luck!! Mary Beth

jamie in cedar park, TX 1 forum post and 8 journal entries and 63 interview answers Send Private Message 9/8/2007

It is big, it seems like every change we made added additional square ft.  The original plan was around 5400 square ft.  After revamping the master suite, adding the sitting area off the kitchen, bumping out the media room and creating the childrens retreat above the family room, (we decided to do that rather than have a 2 story family room, which we had at our last house and hated because of the heating/ac issues it created.) we added 1400 square ft.  My husband and I discussed what we could cut to reduce the square footage, but we couldnt bring ourselves to cut out anything.  (The only room we were willing to cut was the childrens retreat, but that one was also the cheapest to add.)  We have beautiful hill country views off the back and didnt want to cut the sitting areas.  I am also verry excited about my spacious closet, laundry, pantry and craft room.  I am not about to give those up.  (this is how my husband convinced me to sell our previous house, which I thought was close to perfect.) My parents are retired and live 4 hours away in a little house my dad built in the Texas Hill country on the Frio Cielo river.  The location is kind of remote and they have been talking about them buying a "fixer upper" around here somewhere.  In the end we decided to just add them an apartment on our property. The apt is about 1000 square ft.  Someday, one of them might live there full time, but that is many, many, many years down the road. (hopefully)

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2nd entry

Posted to Crystal-Falls-home by jamie in cedar park, TX on 9/6/2007 10:14:08 AM

   We finally got the elevation drawings back from the architect and submitted the plans to the HOA for approval this morning.  We were told it takes about a week for them to review plans and either approve or request changes.  Hopefully our plans will go through the committee without any issues.  Our exterior looks similar to some of the other homes going up. 

   Meanwhile, we are still trying to get bids and estimates on all types of materials and labor.  While we were still in the "dreaming" phase, we used an online cost estimator called Building-cost.net to come up with an estimated budget of around $75 per square ft.  Based on the bids we are getting back so far this estimator is high on Masonry, framing, roofing, HVAC, insurance, and permits.  It did estimate low on flooring,, appliances and bath fixtures.  (of course I want travertine, granite, high end appliances and a premium whirlpool/airbath tub)  I am doing my best to find deals on the internet and local vendors who deal directly from the Manufacturers.  I am also planning to put together a spreadsheet w/ at least 2 choices of various fixtures/appliances/flooring/cabinetry w/ best prices I can come up w/ from dealers on the internet and then I want to visit w/ direct buy and see how they compare to shopping the internet.  I stay at home w/ my 2yr old and 8 month old and have plenty of time for this research.  Just curious, did any one else do this?  How did it turn out?

   The loan is not secured yet, the plans must be approved before we can finish that.  My husband wants to break ground by the end of the month, I think that may too ambitious.  We will have a yr to complete once the loan closes.  We have a tentative family vacation planed for August next yr and I hope to be finished otherwise my husband might have to stay behind....

   BTW, I tried to attach a copy of the floor plans, but the attach file button doesn't seen to be working

1st entry

Posted to Crystal-Falls-home by jamie in cedar park, TX on 8/26/2007

   We bought a 1 acre lot in Grand Mesa at Crystal Falls in Nov. of 2006.  We sold our house and moved to a rental in May of 2007 and have been working w/ the architect to customize a stock floor plan since then. (This process has been much slower than I expected.)  The architect is currently revising the side and back elevations and hopefully we will get the lot fit done next week.  We hope to have the plans completed, loan finalized and plan approved by all and begin some site work within the next 2 months.  My Husband's Stepfather will be acting as our GC.  (He had to re-apply for his license since it expired, but that should be coming in the mail in the next week.) He has 15 to 20 years experience in the building industry and will be mainly acting as a consultant.  My husband and I plan on doing the bulk of planning and supervising. 

   That's about it for now, If all goes smoothly, I will update soon.